Carolina

Chapter 2-2

She hadn’t been in very many serious relationships. Most of the time guys viewed her as, well, one of the guys. And she never looked at any of them as anything more than a friend, except for one . . . Josh. Josh was Nicole’s boyfriend through part of college. She met him in one of her classes and they hit it off immediately. He was charming, handsome, and smart. He was what most girls dream of finding. But, of course, just like most things in her life, he turned out to be too good to be true.

As time went on and the relationship grew, Josh started to become less charming and more possessive. His jealous tendencies got so bad that he started going through Nicole’s phone when she wasn’t looking and following her when they were apart. Then, what she least expected to happen, happened. He completely lost his temper when she spoke to the cashier at the grocery store. To her, all she had done was tell the guy, “Thanks, have a good day.” But to Josh, she gave the guy a “look.” He accused her of thinking the guy was better looking than him. As soon as they got back to the car, he began questioning her. She became infuriated with the persistent inquiries and turned to face him, screaming at him to leave her alone. And he reacted with the palm of his hand. He left the side of her face so bruised that it took layers of make-up to conceal it for days. He apologized relentlessly and she convinced herself that he would never do it again. But he did.

Several weeks later, he saw her talking to a male classmate about the assignment they had due the next day. He marched up and, instead of asking her questions, he grabbed her by the arm and started to drag her outside. The classmate hollered, “Hey man, what’s your problem?” and Josh turned and punched him in the jaw. They began fighting and Nicole screamed at Josh to stop. A couple of professors finally heard the commotion and came over to break up the fight. Nicole ran away from the crowd of people in tears.

She called him later that day to tell him that she wanted to break up. He begged and pleaded with her, but she held her ground. At this point, she only had a few months to go until graduation, so she decided to finish. It wasn’t quite as fun as what people made it out to be. She had to take a friend anytime she walked to class and rotate where she parked her car. Nicole finished school, packed her things, and immediately moved back to Carolina, having never spoken to Josh again.

* * * *

A month down the road, Nicole lay on the couch watching the romantic movie with Salem. She started to think she would have been better off watching the news. The couple started kissing on screen. She watched in envy. All these damn movies always show the perfect story with the perfect ending, she thought. She peered down at the cat, who seemed to be more than pleased with his life. “If only this was how the world really worked, Salem.”

A flashback of Josh’s hand striking her face made her cringe and she closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain. A single tear fell to the couch and she dozed off.